Helpless
by Chippen Kitten
Summary: Louise'd never been the type to try and grab the spotlight, she had to work a shift later in the night. Doing the usual, taking orders around the room, then someone walks in—and her heart goes boom. Based off of Can't Go Home Again.


**aka chippen's been listening to hamilton again, oops**

 **welcome to writing with chippen but everything is x2 shippier than it needs to be, i'll be your host**

 **you guys saw louise in the summary, be prepared for the good stuff, the mushy stuff**

 **anyways enjoy, or don't**

* * *

It was completely unexpected.

There are nine planets, seven seas, seven continents, eight hundred and nine islands, two hundred and four countries, and Louise has the unfortunate luck of being the night's main waitress.

It's not like she had a say in the matter, anyways. She needed to stay overtime for rent and this happened to be the only opening she could get. It wasn't too bad if she didn't think about it; not that many people came during the nightshift, and she'd still be getting paid, so, win-win.

There were only a few people left in the actual restaurant, that being the cook, herself, a few of her coworkers in the back and maybe a customer or two.

Louise watched as a van made its way into the parking lot, and she sighed, adjusting her hair. Make that one customer more.

The door rings it's familiar chime as whoever was driving the car walks in, and she glances up from what she was doing—counting tips, manning the trays, tossing out old wrappers—and stares.

But it's only for a moment. The man walking in straightens out his jacket and makes brief eye contact with her before choosing the nearest booth and sitting down.

And just like that, suddenly she has to leave the counter and take the other man's order, suddenly she has to go into the back and speak briefly with the chef about their order, suddenly she has so much to do and so many places she's supposed to be, and it definitely has to do with the guy that just walked in.

He looks completely indecisive and bored, tapping his fingers against the table rhythmically and staring off into space, and is decked out in purple. Did someone dunk him in grape soda?

Once Louise realizes that it's been a few minutes and she hasn't taken the guy's order though, she squares up, brandishes her pencil, and heads over to his booth.

And lo and behold, is one of the most adorable little things she's ever seen painted on a grown man's face. She can't really tell what it is when she first arrives at the table, but it's an excellent segue, so hopefully she won't stutter when she starts talking.

"Is it a mime?"

He must've been really into his thoughts; he looks almost startled when Louise spoke up, and cocks an eyebrow in confusion. "Is what a mime?"

Louise chuckles a little and taps her cheek lightly, a playful smile pulling at her lips. "You've got a little something on the other side of your face."

At this, he blinks in recollection, moves his hand to touch his cheek, and rolls his eyes, shaking his head. Louise thinks she can see the faintest of blushes rising in his cheeks. "Forgot I was still wearing that, I, uh, work over at the children's restaurant across town, you know?"

He's cute when he's embarrassed, Louise decides.

"I had a feeling it was something like that," she replies. "But it's cute! So, mime?"

She has absolutely no idea where all this energy suddenly is coming from, but he seems like a pretty amiable guy, and it feels really nice to get to talk to him. If she wasn't on the job she might've slid into the booth right with him.

"Close enough. To be honest, we're not really sure ourselves," he jokes. "I'm Mike."

"Louise," she answers. "Though...it's a little late for business, isn't it?" She glances toward the windowed store front, taking in the dark sky. "I didn't think anyone else was open."

"Yeah, I have a feeling this town shuts down at seven," Mike replies, smirking. "But no. I had security guard duties to take care of."

That explains the getup. "Oh, really?" She remarks, placing her hands on her hips. "I knew it had to be something special. We don't get that many men in uniform around here."

"What?" he asked, placing a hand on his chest and feigning offence. "Are you saying most people _don't_ walk around dressed in electric purple?"

Louise giggles in response, so much so that she covers her mouth with her hand before pushing the hair out of her eyes. She's having a crazy good time with him, and he's just a customer. She definitely wants to see where this is going.

Mike grins. "Didn't think I'd be getting such a good audience or I would've brought better material."

Louise chuckles. "I think everyone has better material when it's not the middle of the night."

Mike hums. "True."

Louise notices movement in the corner of her eye and turns just in time to see the other man paging her; she needs to collect his dish and drop it off in the wash, and maybe get Mike's order, instead of flirting with him for the brief minutes since they've spoken.

Flirting. She's been flirting. With a guy she'd only met for a couple minutes at best. But she doesn't want to lie to herself; he's good company, makes her laugh, and is hecka cute. She'd swoon for his eyes any day.

She makes it far enough to collect the plate and starts to open the kitchen door when her resolve crumbles. Screw it. He's a nice guy and she wants to see more of him. Caution is undoubtedly thrown to the wind, and Louise turns to address him.

"You know..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm a pretty good judge of character."

Mike props up his head on his head and cocks an eyebrow, smirking. "Are you?"

"Mm-hm. That's why I work here. I don't have to see much of them." Mike laughs a little, and it's enough to raise her confidence up a little. Just a little.

"This might be a little presumptuous, and I might be rushing this, but—" she's _blushing she's blushing oh god why is she blushing c'mon just get it together and ask one question_ "—I think I'd like to see more of you."

Mike looks taken aback, but it doesn't look like bad surprise, so Louise continues. "How about I get you something I think you'll like," she starts, trying not to fidget with the hem of her uniform "and maybe you could return the favor by taking me somewhere nice this weekend?"

It takes him just a moment to think about it, so maybe he was flirting along with her, too? When he gives her a lopsided smile and says; "Sounds good to me, as long as I'm not required to paint my face." Her heart does a little flip. And of course, she laughs.

Mike really seems to take a liking to the food she brings him, and in the end, he leaves with the promise of a date next Saturday, and she has his phone number.

His _phone number._

She could contact him at anytime is she wanted to. Not that she would, of course, but still, the possibility is still there. And the time she got to spend with him, while albeit brief, was still fun. Louise can't imagine what a full on date with him would be like. The thought makes a blush creep up into her cheeks, and the slip of paper crinkles a little in her grip.

Of course, there's still work to do once Mike leaves, but Louise is immediately cornered when she swings into the kitchen by a bemused coworker.

"Louise?" she asks, then frowns. "Louise, you've been standing out there for the past two minutes. I thought the last one'd left already." She glances past Louise and into the now empty diner. "What's going on?"

"I, um..." Louise gestures to the paper in her hand, and smiles a little as she reads over the contents. "I have a date."

Maybe the evening finally turned around.

.

* * *

 **(i had to add that period there cause fanfiction kept eating the line breaks, sorry bout that)**

 **look at her i love her**

 **so uh**

 **slight prob**

 **what do you do when you accidentally make yourself ship an unconventional pairing, because golly gosh i love watching them flirt, it cures my depression but also salts my crops 'cause, yknow, ya boi mari, and 'cause louise could be a really interesting character, i hope we see more of her in the cgha sequel. idk, i just think they'd be kinda cute together**

 **aight, proceed to the reviews and flame me now**


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